combustion 3 for Apple Macintosh, the latest version of Discreet's award-winning visual effects and 3D compositing desktop software, was announced on Jan. 5, 2004 in conjunction with MacWorld in San Francisco. combustion 3 for the Mac will deliver industry-leading features benefiting customers who produce Web content and professional video motion graphics, repurpose video content for the Web and create effects for independent feature films and HDTV content.

Turbo Squid announced the release of Service Pack 2 (SP2) for cebas' finalRender Stage-1, a Discreet certified 3ds max plug-in. SP2 is a free download and provides the following to finalRender Stage-1 users:

*All-New Anti-Aliasing Core Engine Technologies – The latest advanced adaptive anti-aliasing sampling algorithms have been implemented within SP2 and provided as a new engine along with significant speed enhancements to the existing engines.

Comcast is expected to acquire Paul Allen's computer-info channel TechTV for about $300 million, to merge it with Comcast's fledgling G4 channel, reports VARIETY, in an effort to boost its programming assets and subscriber reach.

The merger of G4 and TechTV, would combine the best original programming of each into a videogame-focused, computer and technology-based network, reaching around 45 million subs, targeted to the highly desirable male 18-34 demo.

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairman Michael Powell will address top public policy issues facing the consumer technology industry during a "One-on-One" discussion with Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) president and ceo Gary Shapiro at the 2004 International CES. The session will take place on Jan. 9 at 7:30 am in the Las Vegas Convention Center Room N257. The 2004 International CES runs Jan. 8 – 11, 2004.

Oscar-winning editor Walter Murch chose a Rorke Data Storage Area Network (SAN) containing 1.2 terabytes of Seagate disc drives for post-production editing on Anthony Minghella’s Golden Globe nominated film, COLD MOUNTAIN. Reliability was the main concern for the system that was first built and configured by DigitalFilm Tree before being shipped to the film set outside of Bucharest, Romania.

yU + co explores the elusiveness and transience of memory in its absorbing main title sequence for the new John Woo thriller PAYCHECK, which opened Christmas Day through Paramount Pictures. The design studio's mercurial graphics, where words and names form out of random characters on a computer screen before being quickly erased, serve as a subtle metaphor for the conflict that besets the film's protagonist, who is engaged in a desperate struggle to reconstruct his past.

Cinesite Hollywood will provide digital intermediate and vfx services for the Fox Searchlight release NEVER DIE ALONE. The film noir directed by cinematographer Ernest Dickerson will premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on Jan. 19, 2004, and is slated for wide release on March 19.

Based on cult novelist Donald Goines' book of the same name, NEVER DIE ALONE is about King David (DMX), a hard-boiled, stylish criminal who returns to his hometown seeking redemption and finding only violent death.

Platinum Studios has acquired the film rights to two indie comics – THE DARK FRINGE and RUST. Platinum head Scott Rosenberg will oversee the live-action projects.

FRINGE -- created, written and inked by Eman R. Torre for Atomic Rocket Prods -- follows a cop who must decide whether he can trust the top suspect in the murder of his wife to lead him to the possible true killer. RUST, created by Steve Miller, follows a man who is accidentally covered in metal and finds solace in sculpture.

The big-screen version of S.W.A.T., starring Samuel L. Jackson, Colin Farrell and Michelle Rodriguez, comes to DVD on Dec. 30, 2003 (Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment, $28.95) with enough gunfire and other explosions (with vfx help from Pixel Magic) to satisfy action-movie junkies as well as fans of the '70s TV series.